Friday, September 19, 2008

For all those readers curious about the postcard feature at the bottom of the blog, I wanted to do a post on our love for postcards (of any kind, but especially vintage).

(A Magic Curious Kitten Sponsored Post)

Flea markets, antique stores, estate sales, and forgotten drawers in old writing desks are full of these miniature letters accompanied with colored pictures. My first postcard was wooden, from a primitive arts and crafts center. Hummingbirds were delicately cut and blackened in the wood grain, along with curving trumpet flowers.

The ones you see above are a mixture of gifts from friends on various trips (the zany one is from a Norman Rockwell art exhibit), which have spent years pinned to message boards or sticky-taped to dorm room walls...

Included above, Stork Island and the Shores of Galveston

Several of those we feature on the blog are from a vintage lot purchased at a flea market. The lot dates from the '40's and '50's era, with technicolor-ish scenes of U.S. landmarks (like "oranges and snow in the California mountains"). Three seperate stories unfold on the back of these vintage cards, with notes scribbled on the back and old-fashioned pink and green stamps (and equally old-fashioned postmarks across them).

One set of colorful U.S. attractions features the cross-country road trip made by a family en route to visit their uncle. Another set of cards chronicles a married couple's tour of medical clinics in search of treatment for a debilitating disease. A few others are simple notes mailed from home, remarking on the weather, the birds in the backyard, or a recent conversation.

(Above, Penguins and the Manhattan Skyline, circa 1987)

Whether kept in boxes or tucked in books as markers, a good postcard is always worth keeping ...

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Mystery of Edwin Drood was the last novel of Charles Dickens. A dark, brooding story regarding the sudden disappearance of an innocent young man, the mystery was destined to remain unanswered with Dickens' death prior to the story's end.

The unfinished manuscript has been "completed" by several authors, both great and clever, but the speculation regarding Dickens' real ending continues on. Was Edwin Drood murdered? If so, who killed him? And where did they conceal his body?

By far, the concept of the gloomy church crypts overseen by grim Durdles, the masoleums locked away with their mouldering bodies and carved inscriptions, remains the most popular place of concealment for Drood's body.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

It's time for Old Farmhouse Gathering to shine! Their latest celebration is Halloween -- Spooks, that is. The talented prim and folk artists of Etsy and Ebay have assembled the best of their All Hallows' Eve artwork for the OFG Spookfest on Etsy. Dolls, paintings, tinware, ornies, home decor, and much more, ranging from the spooky and scary to the whimsical, including our own Trick or Treat Twosome below.

Please click on the Wandering Witch button below to visit these fine artists and their work this Halloween! You won't be disappointed in the unique items on display.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Drum roll please....it's the first time the all-new Page Phantoms log has appeared in original size on the blog.

In case you haven't scrolled below to see the newest slideshow, the parade of faces are the ghouls, ghosties, and dark villains of literature...like Dorian Gray and his portrait and the evil Madame Defarge.

Here's a pic of our first-ever set of mummies...they're a work in progress, even here (and we did eventually sew button eyes on them). We learned a few lessons in the art of "doll mummization" from our first try....

Last, but not least, is the stage of "Mummy Dearest", like the one below (the one on Ebay right now is the new "mother-son" design). The mother and child dolls may be a pun, and one of the oldest corny jokes in history, but the design was an official departure from "Pocket Prim" mummies for ornie trees.

There's more evolution to come with future designs ... maybe mummies will emerge from the animal kingdom next....